Tuesday, 19 July 2011

Will David Cameron Survive the News of the World Scandal?

i newspaper headline 19 July '11

As I write, calls for British Prime Minister David Cameron to quit or at the very least apologise over his part in the News International crisis are growing. The criticism is centred around Cameron’s appointment of disgraced former News of the World editor Andy Coulson to a government advisory position. Coulson resigned this post earlier this year and has since been arrested over the phone hacking scandal. Betting odds on Cameron resigning were yesterday slashed from 100/1 to 8/1.

Why is Cameron in such a dangerous position now? Well, the two most senior officers in the Metropolitan police resigned yesterday over the scandal, specifically over the Met’s appointment of former News of the World journo Neil Wallis. Wallis has also since been arrested over the hacking scandal. So the question is, if that is enough to bring down two Met chiefs, why not Cameron, whose appointment of Coulson seems just as dodgy as the Met’s hiring of Wallis?

Let’s take a look at the charts. Below is a tri-wheel. In the centre is the UK 1801 chart, Cameron’s chart is in the middle, and around the outside are the transits for tomorrow when Cameron will be back in parliament. (Tri-wheels can look at bit busy, so the individual charts are posted at the end.)

Click to enlarge

The first striking thing is that Cameron’s Venus in Libra falls exactly on the UK’s Ascendant. The ASC and first house is arguably the most important point in a country chart, because it represents the country and its inhabitants as a whole.

With a Libra ASC and first house, the UK prides itself on its fair and just society, as well as on its diplomacy, its negotiating expertise and its ability to get along with other countries. Simply put, the UK wants to be liked, it aims to please. With Cameron’s Venus so tightly conjunct the UK ASC and because Venus is highly dignified in Libra by ruler-ship, it is easy and natural for Cameron to channel and represent these positive UK ‘qualities’.

Cameron’s Sun in Libra also falls in the UK’s first house and this is where the picture gets more difficult for him. Traditionally, the Sun in Libra is in its fall. Planets in their fall are said to feel uncomfortable and weak, with reduced power to assert themselves. The Sun in Libra therefore needs the support of others to achieve its goals. We can see how Cameron has made the most of his networks to gain power, starting off with an Eton/Oxbridge education, a combination that is still a ticket to power, if you can afford it. Even before the hacking scandal blew up, there were rumblings about Cameron’s background amongst certain sectors when he announced his government austerity measures (severe cuts in jobs and services). They asked whether a man of his privilege could have any understanding of the ordinary concerns of the ordinary citizens he represents.

Now, during this hacking scandal, we are learning more about the other networks that have helped Cameron into power, notably, his personal friendships with influential News International executives and the ill judged role he gave to Coulson, who had resigned from the News of the World way back in 2007 over phone hacking. It has also been implied by commentators that News International dropped any residual support of the Labour party by its tabloids before the 2010 general election because Labour didn’t back Murdoch’s BskyB bid. It is rumored that the conservatives were more willing to support the deal so the papers went with them. It can’t be underestimated how influential the newspapers still are when it comes to elections in the UK.

Now these relationships, and others, so carefully nurtured by Cameron are starting to fall apart. Often, when a planet is in its fall, there is a humbling experience when those factors or people who ‘propped up’ the planet start to fall away. This is certainly what is happening now.

What of the transits? Well this is where it gets very interesting. Transiting Saturn is moving through the crucial 1st house in the charts of both the UK and David Cameron. Transiting Saturn is urging us, as a nation, as well as urging Cameron personally, to see reality as it really is. It is asking us to take responsibility for our actions and address wrongdoings. With Saturn you get out what you put in and if what you put in is criminal or immoral or not in the best interests of the collective, Saturn will not let you get away with it. Saturn transits also teach us lessons and ask us to restructure aspects of ourselves, or in this context, to restructure our media, government and police force. In Libra, Saturn also speaks about how we handle our relationships and about justice and the law. Transiting Saturn has already made two hits on Cameron’s Sun and will make the final hit in early September. Cameron needs to put things right. He cannot get away with cutting corners, fudging or not telling ‘the whole truth and nothing but the truth’. Lies will be exposed.

This is dramatically underlined by the relationship of the UK chart and Cameron’s chart to the moving Uranus-Pluto square. The challenging alignments of these two planets are associated with huge and often revolutionary changes in society, culture and politics. They symbolize energy for change and revolution. They bring shocks, breakdowns, breakthroughs and seemingly sudden, but far reaching events that alter everything. This is a long transit. We are already feeling it quite obviously in the collective even though it’s yet to make an exact hit. The first of seven hits comes in June 2012 and the final hit will be in March 2015. The rounded up cardinal degrees for the exact alignments are 8, 7, 11, 9, 14, 13 and 15. Notice how the first four hit the angles of the UK chart. Notice also how the Uranus-Pluto square will form a t-square with Cameron’s Venus and then his Sun, giving him a mega-transit that will last until 2015!

Whether he ‘survives’ this scandal or not, there seems little doubt that the fate of the UK is tied up with the fate of Cameron. Uranus-Pluto can mean a metaphorical ‘sudden death’ in this context, but on the other hand, Pluto is the survivor. I wouldn’t like to make a call either way on whether Cameron will lose his office, except to say that I will not be totally surprised if he does go as a direct or indirect result of this mess, if not immediately, but further down the line. Perhaps he will charm his way through the Uranus-Pluto transit to his Venus, but then fall when it hits his debilitated Sun in Libra?

Time will tell us the fate of Cameron and his government, but will the UK establishment ever be the same again? For myself, I very much hope that things will change for the better. Or maybe after the hacking scandal has blown over and few heads have conveniently rolled, we will go back to ‘business as usual’ at UK plc, like we did after the banking crisis and the parliamentary expenses scandal. For all our sakes, I truly hope that this is not the case.

2 comments:

Excellent piece. I love the Uranus/Pluto square connecting with Cameron, his natal Venus and the UK over the next 4 years, very nicely explained. I have been looking at the situation too, and this post dovetails rather well with the ones I have been doing on my blog.Pleased that I found your site.

Readers, check out Paul's excellent analysis of the UK chart in relation to the NoW scandal...which makes a connection to the July Solar eclipse that fell on the UK's MC http://solarisastrology.blogspot.com

About Me

I have been fascinated by astrology all my life and cast my first horoscope back in 1985. Latterly, I studied at The London School of Astrology for over three years and gained the school’s Certificate in 2005.
I am committed to self development - emotionally, spiritually and intellectually - and believe in doing my best to live my life true to myself and my life purpose, in service to others and in harmony with the cycles of the universe. These values are also the focus of my work with clients.
Sun Capricorn, Moon Aquarius, Gemini Rising